High Temperatures
by CherrySugarCube
Summary: It is Matt's 15th birthday and Mello gets an idea. They sneak out in the middle of night to celebrate Matt's big day. But everything doesn't go exactly as Mello had planned. And Matt doesn't seem to warm to his friend's ideas…


**It's now September 10th and the time is around six a.m. when I'm writing this. ;D And before saying anything else I'd like to announce that I dedicate this fic to my dear friend, heart-chan, whose birthday is today. I always have difficulties with finding or making a proper present for her. But this time I came up with an idea for a fic and so I decided to write this story.  
heart-chan, correct me if I'm wrong... but I believe that Matt x Mello is one of your favorite pairings and that's why I used it in this fic. **

**Hope you (and everyone else as well) like it. (:**

* * *

None of the kids at Wammy's House ever remembered my birthday, except Mello. He was the only one who did – and probably the only one who even knew the right date. Therefore I couldn't blame the others. Besides, I didn't need them to remember or celebrate my birthday. Mello and I always had fun together – just the two of us. He was my best friend – my _only _friend. And I was the only one in the whole orphanage who enjoyed his company. No-one else could stand him since he bullied everyone who dared to come near him. That's why everyone excluding me was afraid of him.

Sometimes Mello was awfully mean to me too but I didn't mind that. I knew he meant no harm – from time to time I just managed to irritate him, that's all. But though the other kids in the orphanage weren't afraid of _me_, they were often avoiding my company since Mello was always around. Or actually I was always around Mello… I followed him everywhere. I would have taken a bullet for him if necessary.

Our home, Wammy's House, was full of kids with special gifts. We were given a special education and we were all highly intelligent. But we had this top three group that included me, Mello and Near. Near was always the number one and Mello was his worst opponent. They were always competing against each other, and I got to admit that it often was pretty exhausting. I didn't mind who was the best but since Mello was my friend, I always needed to take his side. Trust me; Mello can be so melodramatic when he wants to… And that's _extremely _exhausting…

But that's enough about Mello already (oops, he'd be mad if he knew I just said that…). It was now the 1st day of February 2005, my fifteenth birthday. I was playing with my video game console on my bed. That's one of my daily routines. No… To be exact, I play all the time.

All of the sudden someone hopped on my bedding but I didn't put a pause on my game since I already knew who the intruder was.

Mello.

"Matt", he stated briefly.

"Mello", I replied, still not raising my gaze from the screen of my game console.

"The time has come", the blonde announced with a serious tone in his voice.

Now I put a pause on my game and winced. "Aw, Mello… C'mon…" I whined. "It's already 11:30. Do we really have to go…?"

"Yes, we do", Mello replied, showing no mercy at all. He leaned his face close to mine and grabbed my hair roughly. "Let's get going."

He stood up and walked to the door of our room. I was still sitting on the bed, probably looking sulky.

Mello turned towards me. "Hey, it's your birthday after all", he reminded.

"But what if we get caught?" I asked sounding worried and also a bit scared which wasn't my intention.

"We won't get caught", Mello replied carelessly, looking smug. "Don't forget; I'm a genius. The old man won't notice us sneaking outside."

I sighed. Mello had always been like this. He always wanted to act against the rules. We were not allowed to go out at night. And now Mello wanted to celebrate my birthday by going out with me – in the middle of night!

"Fine…" I muttered feeling resigned. Mello was often bossing me around and I had to follow his every order. But _this _he claimed to be because he wanted us to celebrate my birthday. What a lame excuse…

* * *

So we sneaked out behind Roger's back. It was a cold winter night. Fortunately it didn't snow. But I was shivering.

"Since when have you been such a coward, Mattie?" Mello asked teasingly.

I didn't reply. I just didn't want to get caught. We hadn't gotten far from the Wammy's yard yet. I was worried…

Mello was staring at me. "Wait… Mattie…" he said. "Are you _shivering_…?"

I wrapped my arms around myself, without a reply. What was the fun part of sneaking out in the middle of night when it was freezing cold and snowy…?

"Are you so afraid of getting caught that you're _shivering_…?" Mello asked, still staring at me.  
I turned my head towards him and stared back. "No", I replied. "It's just so cold here! Got it?"

Mello chuckled. "Is it now…?" he teased. "I'm not feeling cold."

"Yes, 'cause sneaking out was your idea!" I said to him. "You can't show that you're feeling cold 'cause then your genius idea would turn out to be quite a flop."

I was relieved since Mello didn't get pissed. I didn't want to make him angry. I just wanted to go back inside.

The blonde laughed at me. Apparently my theory had been wrong… He didn't feel any cold… Or perhaps he was one hell of a good actor…

I sighed and turned my gaze away. Mello would soon get fed up with this and want to go back inside…

But I was wrong. This had so far been just the beginning of Mello's bad ideas for tonight...

All of the sudden I felt something hard and wet hitting the back of my head.

"_Ouch_!" I hissed and turned to Mello.

The blonde grinned at me. He had thrown a snowball at me – and it had reached its target perfectly. I groaned. Now he had gotten me mad…

I ran towards him and rammed against him. He didn't have a chance to stand aside. We both fell down to the snow.

"Matt, calm down!" Mello shrieked. He was lying on his back on the snowy ground. I was on top of him, pressing him against the snowy ground with my both hands.

I took a deep breath and let go of him. I was just about to ask if we could go back inside now but then Mello managed to push me away, grab me and then force me against the ground. A second later I was lying on on my stomach and Mello was sitting on my back. He took a handful of snow and rubbed it against my face.

I was screaming and struggling. "Mello, stop it! _Stop it_! Aah – it _hurts_!"

But he didn't stop before my face was completely covered in snow and my clothes were all wet. But I guess his were wet, as well.

"That was a dirty trick!" I snapped at him. He was still sitting on my back and I was trying to struggle free.

Mello snorted. "I just paid you back", he stated.

"Then I guess you're satisfied now", I muttered venomously. "This is so immature… We're fifteen and playing like this… Can we _please_ go back inside…? We're all wet."

"Yada, yada, yada… No, we can't", Mello said. "We're going shopping now."

"What – _shopping_…? In the middle of night? We don't even have any money… Or are you planning to rob a bank or something…" I rolled my eyes. That'd be so like Mello… Not that he had ever robbed a bank for real… as far as I knew.

"No", Mello said, chuckling. He stood up and offered his hand to me.

I gripped his hand and he pulled me up.

"What do you mean by shopping then…?" I asked.

"We're just going to the downtown", he explained. "Hanging, y'know…"

I sighed yet again. "Fine then…" I muttered. "But we can't stay for long. Someone will notice us being gone."

Mello nodded impatiently. He gripped my coat and hustled: "C'mon now, Mattie."

* * *

We walked along a street side by side. Mello pulled a chocolate bar out of his jacket. He tore off the wrapping. The chocolate bar turned out to be crushed.

"Now look what you've done", he whined, glaring at me and then at the chocolate bar.

"Blame yourself", I replied, looking at the broken chocolate bar too. "Take that as a payback for dragging me out here and making me suffer like this… It's my birthday after all… It surely doesn't feel like that right now…"

But then I immediately changed my mind since we passed by a game shop. I stopped and started to stare at the fascia.

"Matt", Mello's voice called me.

I didn't respond.

"Matt, let's move on", the blonde urged.

"No… not yet…"

"C'mon", Mello said and gripped my coat again.

"Hey, I can walk on my own…" I muttered.

"You didn't want to stay for long so we're moving on", he said, dragging me with him.

We passed by a bar.

"How about…?" Mello asked, looking at me and then grinning mischievously. He ate the rest of his crushed chocolate bar.

"We can't get in", I replied. Not that I even wanted to…

"Yeah, I know", he said, swallowing a mouthful of chocolate. "I was just kidding…"

"Whatever…" I muttered. I wasn't sure if I believed him.

Mello grabbed my coat and dragged me onwards. Some drunken man came out of the bar and accidentally rammed against me. He didn't apologize, just tried to move on. Well, I didn't mind…

But Mello did. He stopped the man.

"Hey, you don't own this street", he snapped at the drunken man. "You need to apologize to Matt."

"What are you nagging about, blondie?" the drunken man slurred and I found it hard to catch his words.

"Hey, you listen to me now, wino", Mello said, starting to get mad. "No-one calls me 'blondie'. And did you just push my friend on purpose? If you didn't, you should just simply apologize to him."

"Mello, I think it was just an accident…" I said timidly. I didn't want Mello to get us in troubles.

"I've got no time for this, you brat…" the drunken man muttered to Mello. He was already leaving.

"You're not going anywhere before you apologize!" Mello yelled at him and shook his fist in the air.

I tried to hold Mello still but he managed to struggle himself free. He ran to the drunken man and tried to punch him. But the man was surprisingly fast and punched Mello's face so hard that the blonde fell to the ground on his back.

"Mello!" I shrieked and ran to him. "Are you ok…?"

I knelt down to him to see if he was hurt. His nose was bleeding but otherwise he seemed to be alright. But he was extremely mad.

"You'll die, you bastard!" he yelled at the drunken man. "No-one pushes my Matt! And no-one punches me without consequences!"

He was on his feet again and tried to attack the drunken man again. This time I managed to hold him still. He struggled but my grip persevered. The drunken man left, without bothering to say anything to us. I held Mello still for a long time after he had gone. The blonde cooled down gradually.

"You can let go of me now, Matt", he said blandly.

The tone of his voice told me that he was completely calm now.

"You're bleeding", I said, looking at his face. "Hold on."

I crouched down to the ground and took a handful of snow and washed the blood off Mello's face.

"Thanks, Mattie", he said after I had finished.

I smiled a little. "That's nothing. Are you alright?"

"Yeah", he replied. "You were right… This was a bad idea…"

"No, it wasn't", I replied quickly. "That guy was just a jerk."

"Yeah, he was. But this was stupid thing to do anyway…" He sighed and looked at my face. "You're shivering again, Matt. Your clothes are all wet…"

I snorted and smiled gloomily. "Yeah, tell me about it…" I muttered. "And whose fault is it?"

"Got it, got it…" Mello said, looking repentant. Then his face brightened. "Let me fix it", he said. "Take off your coat."

"What? Why?" I asked, sounding doubtful. "I'm going to freeze to death…"

"You definitely will if you don't take it off", he said, grabbing my coat.

I tried to struggle but he had soon shucked my coat off. The wind felt really cold and I was shivering like crazy. But it didn't feel wet anymore…

"Now come here", Mello said to me, opening his leather jacket.

"Mello, what are you doing…?" My teeth were clattering.

"Just come here before you freeze", the blonde huffed. He grabbed me and pulled me inside his jacket. He wrapped his arms tightly around my body.

It felt nicely warm… I had stopped shivering. Mello's body temperature kept me warm. I relaxed and leaned my head against his shoulder.

"Aah, you feel so good…" I blurted without thinking.

Mello chuckled. "I do?"

I blushed. "No… I meant… Uh, never mind…"

He stroked my hair gently with his hand. "I think we should go back now…" he muttered. "Let's go."

But I didn't move. I leaned myself tightly against his body.

"Matt…"

"Mello… I don't want to go just yet…" I whispered. "Let's stay for a moment longer…"

It was nicely quiet and peaceful. Mello was holding me and his body temperature kept me warm in the cold weather… I wanted to spend a moment here with him…

"Well… It's your birthday after all…" Mello muttered, shrugging. "But it's cold here and Roger might find out that we – "

"Mello, shut up."

I don't know how I got the guts. But I suddenly felt like I had to do it. I stood on my toes, pressed my lips tentatively against his and kissed him softly.

My first kiss.

It was something so… _tasty_…

I had never thought of kissing Mello but… now that I did it, I got to admit that it felt stunning good… I needed… more…

I kissed him passionately and ravenously – and he responded to my act! He kissed me fiercely back. He put his hand on the back of my head and pulled me closer to deepen the kiss.

There was no need for anyone to say anything. We didn't need any words. There was just this unbelievable desire to be close to the other one…

I let out a moan. Mello got more excited and started to give kisses on my jaw and neck.

"Wait, Mello…" I breathed. "Wait… What if someone sees us…?"

"So what? Let them see…" he replied, panting and giving more kisses.

I blushed. It was so hard to resist him… But we couldn't do this here… Not here… I pushed him away.

"What is it, Matt?" he asked, glaring at my eyes with his blue ones. "Don't you want… this…?"

"No… I mean… Yes", I said, trying not to lose my words while I was looking him into the eyes. "But not _here_… It's still my birthday – don't forget that. We can do this at Wammy's…"

A teasing smile appeared on Mello's face. "No, we can't if you're moaning like that when I kiss you a little", he said. "You'd wake up the whole orphanage."

I blushed and tried to hide my face. He laughed at my expression.

"Happy birthday, Matt", he said and gave me a warm hug.

* * *

It was my turn to laugh at Mello in the following morning. Though, I didn't feel like laughing... He was in a very bad condition. He was clearly very sick and it was actually all my fault… I had made him stay out so late.

He was having a high fever. He had curled up on his bed, couching and shivering under his cover.

I looked at him, feeling sorry for him. There's no way that I would have laughed t at him now. He looked so miserable.

I sat next to him and stroked his blond hair caringly. He looked at me with his blurry eyes.

We had slept side by side last night and his body had felt so hot – like he had been on fire. He was definitely having a fever.

"This is your fault…" he said to me judgmentally. His voice sounded very hoarse.

"No, this is your own fault", I said to him. "You wanted to go out and play in the snow. And you were wearing wet clothes in the cold weather."

He snorted. "Well… it was all worth it if you take care of me now", he said, smiling smugly at me.

So this had been his hidden agenda all along… Well, I couldn't possibly say no to him when he was in that condition.

"Oh, Mels… I will, I will", I said, giving a soft kiss on his forehead that was burning hot.

Things could have been worse. We could have gotten caught or I could have frozen to death. But no, fortunately no. Instead of all that I was happily in love with Mello and glad to take care of him.

So… first things first – hot chocolate. That'd make him feel much better.

* * *

**After writing this story I actually realized how much it reminds me of one incident that happened to me and heart-chan. She once lent me her coat and the weather was really cold back then. She got sick because of that... I'm grateful for her generosity but I still feel bad about causing all that to her... ^^'  
**

**But anyway, happy birthday, heart-chan! \^.^/**

**~ CherrySugarCube  
**


End file.
